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It provides an exciting opportunity for players like Antonio Valencia, Luke Shaw, Rafael and Adnan Januzaj who are great going forward but are defensively suspect. On the other hand, traditional wingers, like Nani and Ashley young, who are more suited for a 4-4-2 formation, might become an overhead for this formation.
Moreover, the use of true wing-backs spreads the play across the entire width of the pitch which provides more space in the midfield areas to be exploited by the three central midfielders.
Offensive Strength
Coming over to midfield, the biggest advantage that 3-5-2 offers to United is solving their number 10 conundrum. Louis van Gaal recently admitted that there are atleast four number 10’s in United squad fighting for one available spot which makes the team highly unbalanced. And rightly so. Because if you look at it, Rooney, who is a natural striker, because of his versatility and performance, has been mostly used in the number 10 position in previous seasons. This has led to natural number 10’s in United squad, like Kagawa and Juan Mata, to be played out of positions as left-sided or right-sided midfielders. Moreover, the goal scoring exploits of Rooney, something he displayed in 2010 while playing a classic number 9, as a natural striker has also been under-utilized. And hence, the imbalance.
However, with a 3-5-2 formation, Rooney and Robin van Persie can play in combination as the two central strikers with either Juan Mata or Kagawa in behind them playing in a number 10 role. This will ensure Rooney, Mata and Kagawa all playing in their preferred positions and hence providing the much needed balance in the squad. The remaining two positions in the midfield can be taken up by Michael Carrick, who can be used as a ball winning midfielder, and Anders Herrera who can play a classic playmaker role alongside the number 10.
However, just as nothing is perfect, a 3-5-2 is no exception either and it has its own weaknesses too.
Weaknesses
The most discernible is when one of the three central defender drifts in or is found out-of-position, the other two moves in to compensate and, thereby, leaving huge spaces at the wings to be exploited as there are no proper fullbacks in this system. However, this can be averted if the wing-backs are agile, alert and fit enough to track back whenever necessary. This kind of explains why Louis van Gaal has asked Luke Shaw to further build on his fitness if he wants to fit in this system. With wing-backs tracking back more often than going forward, a 3-5-2 will get transformed to more of 5-3-2 which would mean less attacking options.
Conclusion
So to conclude, the 3-5-2 formation is flexible and versatile which allows the players to put their qualities to maximum effect. The full backs can bombard forward to apply their attacking potential without having to worry much about defensive and tracking back duties. The centre halves may not necessarily be the ball-winning, hard-tackling traditional centre half, but rather a more intelligent and versatile defender who can also be used as a deep lying playmaker. Moreover, the natural number 10’s can be used in their preferred position allowing the central strikers more freedom upfront.
Therefore, the 3-5-2, as of now, looks to be the perfect formation to start a new era at Manchester United under Louis van Gaal. And the Dutchman is clever and adaptive enough to change the system whenever the need arise as he perfectly said in his recent press conference up ahead before United's clash against Inter Milan later today: “It’s difficult to change the systems and I had to start this system at once because we don’t have time to change it," van Gaal told media at a press conference in Washington DC.
"We only have three weeks before the season starts, so I have to use all my training sessions to implement this system.
"They know already the other system [4-4-2 or 4-3-3]; they have played that from their youth, so that’s easy. You saw that in the [Netherlands’] game against Mexico – I’m sorry to say that when we were 1-0 down I changed the system to 4-3-3 and then we beat them!"
So I believe its perfect to say, It’s all exciting times up ahead at Manchester United with this 3-5-2 formation.
